In the joining of two members by welding, an excess of weld material is usually deposited at the weld, especially where an elongated weld is involved. Such elongated welds are produced in the joining of fins to tubes for incorporation into heat transfer devices, like the walls of boilers. Typically, two fins are welded to each tube, with a weld placed on each side of the fin, at the juncture of each fin with the tube. Since four welds are used on each tube and since the tubes are scores of feet long, a considerable amount of excess weld is deposited.
Heretofore, excess weld has been removed or scarfed by hand tools, which is time consuming, expensive and imprecise. In addition, in some instances, portions of the excess weld have remained after scarfing, and in other cases, the hand tools have cut into the tube wall, thereby rendering the tube unusable.